Burning | K-Wave
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Mon 26 Oct
Young Jong-su survives on temporary jobs while dreaming of becoming a writer. One day, he reconnects with Hae-mi, a woman from the village where he grew up. They begin a relationship, but soon afterwards Hae-mi leaves for a trip to Africa. When she returns, she brings Ben with her: wealthy, confident and completely unreadable to Jong-su.
During an evening at Jong-su’s family home, Ben reveals his secret hobby. Every few months, he burns down an abandoned greenhouse. Shortly afterwards, Hae-mi disappears without a trace. Jong-su becomes convinced that Ben knows more, but he can never be certain. Has something really happened, or is he filling in the gaps himself?
Director Lee Chang-dong loosely based Burning on Haruki Murakami’s short story Barn Burning. He transforms its mysterious premise into a slow-burning thriller about desire, anger and the widening divide between people who have everything and people who are barely seen. The longer the film continues, the less certain its reality becomes.
Burning is part of K-Wave, a series exploring the global impact of Korean cinema. The film is spoken in Korean and presented with English subtitles.
- Direction
- Lee Chang-dong
- Cast
- Yoo Ah-in, Steven Yeun, Jeon Jong-seo en Kim Soo-kyung
- Duration
- 148 min
- Year
- 2018
- Country
- South-Korea
- Language
- Korean, Japanese
- Subtitles
- English
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